The basis on which community employment has been operated over the years has given rise to two issues of concern which have been brought to the fore as community employment levels are reduced in the context of the positive labour market environment which now prevails. The first issue is the very large dependency on the availability of community employment personnel to support a wide range of community services which are now regarded by local communities as essential, and which are important to the delivery of other Government social initiatives such as child care. The second issue relates to the loss of labour market progression, exacerbated as the absolute numbers of participants on community employment reduces, with the more difficult to progress groups coming to represent a greater percentage of available community employment places.